Matt Leinart

All-american College Football Player + Professional Football Player + Quarterback + Heisman Trophy Winner

Male

BornMay 11, 1983

Age32

HometownSanta Ana, Califo...

TeamHouston Texans + ...

PositionQuarterback

Draft Year2006

Draft Round1

Draft Pick10

Matthew Stephen Leinart, is an American American football quarterback for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). Leinart previously played for four seasons (2006–2009) with the Arizona Cardinals, largely in a backup role, before being released on September 4, 2010. He also played for the Houston Texans (2010–2011). Leinart played college football for the University of Southern California (USC).… Read More

News + Updates

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Hi all! Four years ago (wow!), I compiled the original BN Lexicon. Much has changed since then, and many more users have joined the BN community. The Lexicon was written to help out new or casual visitors to the site understand who or what many of us regulars are referring to. I''ve copied the original below for ease of reference. I''ve already made a few edits: there are some items that I believe can be dropped from the Lexicon, as they''re either no longer correct, no longer rel...

'Alabama hired former Southern California coach Lane Kiffin on Friday as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Kiffin returns to the Southeastern Conference after head coaching stints with the NFL''s Oakland Raiders, Alabama rival Tennessee and the Trojans. He replaces Doug Nussmeier, who left Alabama for Michigan. "He is an outstanding and creative offensive coach who has great experience both at the college and NFL level," coach Nick Saban said in a statement. "He has a very g...

'
Hi all! Four years ago (wow!), I compiled the original BN Lexicon. Much has changed since then, and many more users have joined the BN community. The Lexicon was written to help out new or casual visitors to the site understand who or what many of us regulars are referring to. I''ve copied the original below for ease of reference. I''ve already made a few edits: there are some items that I believe can be dropped from the Lexicon, as they''re either no longer correct, no long...

' PORTLAND, Ore. (TheStreet) -- Will an untested, undefeated team get a shot at the title instead of a one-loss team with tougher competition? Can a team finish No. 1 in the polls and still not make it to the championship game? Is the winner of this year''s college football championship the real champion?
Fortunately for everyone involved, these dumb questions and more should fade away with the Bowl Championship Series when it ends after this season.
The BCS seemed like a fine idea in the e...

Timeline

Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Matt Leinart.

CHILDHOOD

1983Birth
Born on May 11, 1983.

TEENAGE

200017 Years Old
As one of the nation's top college football recruits, Leinart committed to USC under coach Paul Hackett, noting that a major factor was offensive coordinator Hue Jackson. However, after Hackett and most of his staff were fired in 2000, Leinart considered other programs such as Georgia Tech and Arizona State and visited Oklahoma before USC eventually hired Pete Carroll.

As a freshman the next year, he understudied senior quarterback Carson Palmer, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy and join the Cincinnati Bengals. Read Less

200219 Years Old
Leinart appeared in only a few plays in 2002 and threw no passes.

TWENTIES

200320 Years Old
As a sophomore in 2003 Leinart beat out Matt Cassel, a redshirt junior who backed up Palmer in 2002, and Purdue transfer Brandon Hance for the starting job at quarterback.
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Going into the season, Carroll and his coaching staff selected Leinart not because he had set himself significantly ahead of the pack in practice, but because they needed a starting quarterback.<br /><br /> When the coaching staff told Leinart he would be the starter, he replied, "You're never going to regret this." There was some thought in the press that Leinart would merely hold the starting position until highly touted true freshman John David Booty, who had bypassed his senior year in high school to attend USC, could learn the offense.<br /><br /> His first career pass was a touchdown against Auburn. Leinart would win the first three games of his career before the then-No. 3 Trojans suffered a 34 - 31 triple-overtime defeat at California on September 27 that dropped the Trojans to No. 10. Leinart and the Trojans bounced back the next week against Arizona State. Leinart injured his knee in the second quarter and was not expected to play again that day, but he returned to the game and finished 12-of-23 for 289 yards in a 37 - 17 victory. Read Less

The Trojans advanced to the Rose Bowl to face Vince Young and No. 2 Texas in the BCS title game. The title game was considered another "dream matchup." Leinart himself had a great game, going 29-of-40 for a touchdown and 365 yards, but was overshadowed by Young, who piled up 467 yards of total offense and rushed for three touchdowns, including a score with 19 seconds remaining and two-point conversion to put the Longhorns ahead, 41 - 38. The Trojans lost for the first time in 35 games, and Leinart for just the second time in his 39 career starts. After graduation, Leinart's No. 11 jersey was retired at USC. <br /><br />Leinart finished his college career with 807 completions on 1,245 attempts (64.8% completion percentage) for 10,693 yards and 99 touchdowns with just 23 interceptions. He is USC's all-time leader in career touchdown passes and completion percentage, and is second at USC behind Carson Palmer in completions and yardage. He averaged nearly 8.6 yards per attempt, and averaged only one interception every 54 attempts. He was 37 - 2 as a starter. Read Less

The left-handed passing Leinart was selected tenth overall in the 2006 NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals.
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Despite possessing what draft experts believed was a good frame for a quarterback (6' 5", 230 pounds), they believed his lack of a strong throwing arm would be a detriment in his professional career. After Kurt Warner's retirement, Leinart was named the presumptive starter. He lost the starting job, however, in training camp to Derek Anderson, who signed with the Cardinals as a free agent before the 2010 season.<br /><br /> After some speculation Leinart agreed to a one-year deal with the Houston Texans on September 6, 2010. On November 14, 2011, it was announced starting quarterback Matt Schaub had injured his foot and was out a few weeks; as of November 14, coach Gary Kubiak planned on Leinart starting the next game after the bye week versus Jacksonville. Later on in the day, it was announced that Schaub would be out for the season and that Leinart would be the starting quarterback for the season. Leinart was injured against the Jaguars on November 27, 2011, breaking his collarbone, which ended his season. Read Less

Leinart was considered one of the top prospects in the 2006 NFL Draft class.
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Standing and weighing and a left-handed thrower, he was considered the prototypical NFL quarterback in terms of size but with a weak arm. Read Less

Leinart was selected tenth overall in the 2006 Draft by the Arizona Cardinals.
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Leinart spent four seasons with the Cardinals, primarily as backup for Kurt Warner.<br /><br /> In his first season, after a contentious negotiation making him the last member of the draft to sign a contract, Leinart agreed to a six-year, $51 million contract on August 14. and not before Cardinal coach Dennis Green said that he had lost his patience. Leinart played in the second quarter of the exhibition game against the New England Patriots on August 19.<br /><br /> Leinart started the fourth game of the season, in which he threw two touchdown passes. During the previous week, Leinart was rumored to get the starting quarterback position after a poor performance by Kurt Warner in the previous game. Coach Green even held a conference to state that Warner would still start that week's game.<br /><br /> In Week 6 against the 5-0 Chicago Bears, Leinart threw for two touchdown passes in the first half, but the Bears came back in the second half to win 24-23. Read Less

Leinart opened the 2007 season on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers as the starting quarterback.
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After a sequence of quarters in which the offense stalled, Whisenhunt began to insert Warner as a situational quarterback. Read Less

On October 7, 2007, Leinart suffered a fractured left collarbone after being sacked by St. Louis Rams linebacker Will Witherspoon.
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Three days later, he was placed on injured reserve, ending his season. In his first two NFL seasons, Leinart had suffered two season-ending injuries within a period of five sacks. With Warner at the helm for the remainder of the season, the Cardinals mounted a late-season surge and won five of their final eight games.<br /><br /> In Leinart's second season with Arizona, he started five games, completed 53.6% of his passes (60/112) and threw for 647 yards, 5.8 yards per attempt, two touchdowns and four interceptions. His passer rating was 61.9. He averaged 129 yards and .4 touchdowns per start. Read Less

In the 2008 offseason, after he recovered from the injury, Leinart was handed his starting job back, but his hold on the job was tenuous after another strong training camp performance by Warner.
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Finally, after Leinart threw three interceptions within a matter of minutes versus the Oakland Raiders in the third preseason game, Warner was named the opening-day starter. Leinart picked up only a limited number of snaps in mop-up duty behind Warner. Read Less

For the 2008 season, he completed 15 of 29 passing attempts (51.7%), one touchdown, one interception, and an 80.2 passer rating.

200926 Years Old
In 2009, Leinart continued his role as back-up for Warner, who started all but one regular season game.

In 2010, he was named the presumptive starter after Warner's retirement; however, he lost the starting job in training camp to Derek Anderson.
… Read More

The Cardinals released Leinart on September 4, two days after the final preseason game, in favor of Anderson and rookies Max Hall and John Skelton. Read Less

On September 6, 2010, the NFL announced that Leinart signed a one-year contract to back up Matt Schaub with the Houston Texans.

Since Schaub played all sixteen games, Leinart did not play during the 2010 season.

201128 Years Old
During the 2011 offseason, despite speculation that he would sign with the Seattle Seahawks, who were coached by Leinart's college coach Pete Carroll, to compete for a starting job, Leinart ultimately agreed to return to Houston as a backup for the 2011 season.
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In week 10, Schaub injured his right foot and the Texans named Leinart their starter. Leinart started for the first time during week 12 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, however he was injured, fracturing his collarbone, during the first half and replaced by rookie quarterback T.J. Yates. At this point in his career, Leinart had suffered three season-ending injuries (2006, 2007, 2011) within his last 8 starts. Read Less

Leinart signed with the Oakland Raiders on May 1, 2012 as the back-up to his former college teammate, Carson Palmer.
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After Palmer suffered an injury in Week 16, Leinart and Terrelle Pryor split first-team reps. Pryor ended up getting the start in Week 17 and Leinart was not re-signed the following offseason. Read Less

THIRTIES

After injuries to quarterbacks E.J. Manuel (knee surgery) and Kevin Kolb (concussion), the Bills decided to sign Leinart on August 25, 2013.
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Leinart and Thad Lewis (who was brought in on the same day through a trade) would compete for the 4th QB job behind undrafted rookie Jeff Tuel. Read Less

Lewis won the competition, and Leinart was released on August 30, 2013.
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Leinart has a son with former USC women's basketball player Brynn Cameron. Leinart broke up with Cameron before the baby was born. Though they had a dispute over child support early on, they have since settled their differences and Leinart now has a regular schedule for seeing his son. Read Less